Simulated fur skins



April 1970 M. E. BECKER 3,509,004

SIMULATED FUR SKINS Filed June 2, 1967 INVENTOR.

Y MANO E. BECKER I W,MW

ATTOR NEYS United States Patent 3,509,004 SIMULATED FUR SKINS Mano E. Becker, 345 W. 86th St., Room 1309, New York, N.Y. 10024 Filed June 2, 1967, Ser. No. 643,144 Int. Cl. D03d 27/00 US. Cl. 16163 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An artificial fur having the handling properties of natural fur is formed by combining a pile fabric simulation of a natural fur with a backing of natural leather or artificial leatherlike material. A product resembling a garment or panel formed of combined fur strips is provided by forming the pile fabric with parallel bands containing no pile.

This invention relates to artificial fur and provides a manufactured pile fabric closely resembling natural fur not only in its appearance but more importantly in its handling properties.

Several artificial products have been developed to simulate natural fur. These generally consist of a pile fabric formed on a knitted or woven base in various heights corresponding to the fur to be imitated. The pile may include both fur fibers and guard hairs Where the fur to be imitated is similarly composed. The fibers may also be patterned by fluid and/or heat treatments in an effort to simulate the arrangement or lay of certain kinds of natural fur. It is also common to color or dye the pile fabric. Various other constructions have been proposed, all in an effort to give the artificial product the appearance of natural fur, and more particularly in an effort to give garments made from it the appearance of natural fur garments. All of these efforts have been generally unsuccessful. A knitted or woven base pile fabric as previously constructed does not behave or handle like a natural skin, and its incorporation into a garment does not lead to a faithful reproduction of the natural product. In particular when a garment is made of natural skins it is customary to form the skins into fur strips which are then combined side by side to form garment panels. Frequently the strips will be separated by leather tapes to provide a furrowed divide or appearance. The natural skin is a somewhat plastic material which is capable of being stretched and reformed to impart a curvature of taper corresponding to the shape of the strip, or panel. A knitted or woven base pile fabric cannot be handled in the same manner.

I have now discovered that artificial fur can be rendered natural in appearance and in such physical characteristics as pliability, hand and drape by combining a knitted or woven base pile fabric such as those currently produced by known methods, with a thin leather-like backing which is adhesively but flexibly mounted to the non-pile side of the fabric. Preferably the pile fabric is formed to be somewhat dimensionally unstable, that is to say capable of being stretched in one direction with corresponding shrinkage in the transverse direction. A knitted backing provides characteristics of this type but a fabric woven of stretchable yarns will also behave in a similar manner. If the fabric is sized, the-material used for sizing, as well as the adhesive for bonding the fabric to the backing, must be flexible and elastic so as not to interfere with the characteristics desired. When thus combined with a leather-like backing the pile fabric can be handled the same as a natural skin to give a much more natural-appearing effect.

An additional characteristic of an artificial fur product made in accordance with this invention to resemble the natural product is the provision of parallel spaced-apart bands containing no pile. The bands containing no pile will vary in width depending upon the length of the guard hairs and fur pile and the effect to be achieved, but in general they provide an orientation of, or lay of the pile fibers in a manner better to resemble that of combined strips of natural fur as arranged in a garment particularly when the strips of natural fur are joined with a tape of leather between them. This modification of the artificial fur material of this invention is optional, since it will depend upon the individual manufacturer as to how he will utilize the product in a particular garment. If fur strips are to be formed and then assembled into panels in the manner of the manufacture of natural fur garments the provision of spaced bands would not be necessary. On the other hand, if the bands are provided, panels resembling combined fur strips may be cut out of the yard goods and reformed as desired, due to the plasticity and pliability imparted by the leather-like backing, without the need of cutting strips and forming them into panels.

The artificial fur material of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing which shows in perspective a view to the back side of the artificial fur material.

As shown in the drawing, a natural fur resembling pile fabric, formed preferbly on a knitted backing 10 of, for instance, cotton, is adhesively bonded to a piece of natural leather 12 such as kid or chamois or to a synthetic plastic sheet such as a plasticized vinyl chloride sheet of the type commonly used in artificial leather.

Suitable adhesives are those which are flexible and elastic, and which therefore do not interfere with the properties to be imparted by the backing. I may use any of the so-called rubber cements, which consist essentially of rubber or synthetic rubber dissolved in the solvent and also similar cements formed of synthetic film-forming materials such as colloidion and numerous commerical adhesives sold for instance for shoe making purposes. The adhesive may be applied in any of numerous conventional ways, for instance, by spraying or painting a thin coating to both surfaces to be bonded together.

A natural leather backing provides an article simulating expensive furs in giving a natural skin side appearance as well as faithful duplication of the leather handling properties.

A synthetic plastic backing gives a less natural appearance. Very good handling properties may however be had with plastics such as polyvinyl chloride containing about 40-60 percent by weight of plasticizer, in the form of a sheet about 2 mils thick. Preferred plastics are those fabricated to be soft, flexible and elastic such as those available commercially as Corfam manufactured by E. I. duPont de Nemours Co. Inc. or Agstran manufactured by B. F. Goodrich Co.

If the plastic backing is impervious it is preferably perforated as at 14, to give porosity and breathing properties of leather or natural furs. Conveniently the perforations are formed during the bonding process by rolling the backing down onto the adhesive coated fabric with a roller containing pins or spikes which are pressed through the backing. A porous plastic such as Corfam does not require perforating to impart breathing qualities.

There are known methods of producing pile fabrics resembling natural fur, and any of them maybe employed in the practice of this invention; the method of making natural fur resembling pile fabrics is not itself a part of this invention. The fabric may be formed with a uniform pile for uses where the garment manufacturer will cut it up and reform it in accordance with natural fur handling techniques, or, as illustrated in the drawing, the fabric will be formed to resemble an assembly of fur strips by leaving parallel bands containing no pile. These may be formed by so operating the knitting machine that pile is not laid in these bands, or by shearing the pile from the bands after a uniformly pile knit fabric is formed.

Specifically the artificial furs produced by Collins and Aikman to simulate leopard, otter or seal may be employed, as may the deep pile fabrics having medium or long guard hair manufactured by Glenoit.

The nature and composition of the pile fabric will depend upon the type of fur to be simulated and it is here contemplated that conventional techniques pertaining to the coloring, fiber composition and shearing will be employed in a manner calculated to produce the desired simulation. For instance, if a mink simulation is desired and guard hair fibers will be sheared lower on the sides of the pile fabric strips than in the center.

Wherein in simulating a nutria the pile fabric strip will be sheared lower in the center.

Specifically, this invention provides handling qualities and forming qualities in a simulated fur pile fabric by combining the fabric with a flexible and somewhat elastic backing of leather-like material, which may be either natural leather or a synthetic plastic of the artificial leather type and having the pliability and elasticiity of a leather such as kid or chamois.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail a preferred embodiment thereof, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An artificial fur product comprising a pile fatbric which simulates the appearance of a natural fur and is .4 formed on a knitted or woven base, and a backing of leather or artificial leather adhesively bonded to the nonpile side of said base.

2. The product defined by claim 1 wherein the backing is leather.

3. The product defined by claim 1 wherein the backing is a synthetic leather.

4. The product defined by claim 1 wherein the pile fabric is formed with bands containing no pile arranged in a manner to impart the furrowed appearance of a fur garment formed of an assembly of fur strips.

, References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 19,293 8/ 1934 Moore 161--63 1,662,470 3/1928 Pastor 16166 2,630,619 3/1953 Schmidt et al. 161-67 2,737,702 3/ 1956 Schmidt et al. 16167 2,786,791 3/1957 Vandeweghe 156-72 ROBERT F. BURNETT, Primary Examiner R. H. CRISS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

